Textbook

Learning Objective and Topics

The contents and objectives for the Core 2 module does vary slightly from exam board to exam board. Below is a list of most of the topics covered in Core 2 modules. Not every topic will in all exam boards core 2 and some small topics may be missing - see Core 1, 3 or 4 pages for these other topics.

Algebra and functions

Pupils should be able to:

know an understand exponential functions

sketch the graphs of exponential functions

know and understand the laws of logarithms

use logs to solve equations of the form ax = b

Topic list:

exponential functions and their graphs

logarithms and Laws of Logarithms

solving equations of the form ax = b

Sequences and Series

Pupils should be able to:

understand and recognise the different ways of describing a sequence and the different notation used

understand series notation

recognise arithmetic and geometric progressions and work out the sum of their series

discover if an infinite term geometric progression is finite or infinite and calculate the value if it is finite

understand and use the binomial expansion

Topic list:

sequences and sequence notation

recurrence relations

arithmetic progressions

geometric progressions

common ratios

series notation

arithmetic series

geometric series (including the sum to infinity formula)

factorials and nCr notation

the Binomial expansion

Trigonometry

Pupils should be able to:

state the exact values of sine, cosine and tangent for certain values

sketch and know the properties of sine, cosine and tangent functions

know the sine and cosine rules and use them to solve triangles

know an use the formula for the area of a triangle

understand the radian measure for angles and us it to calculate arc length and sector areas